Emotional Eating and Triggers

It's been a while since I posted and also a while since I weighed in. Since my last post I have been to Albuquerque, Feasterville, and now back in SD. I have nothing to report on the weight loss front. While I was in Alb I was able to work in some cardio and weight lifting, but my activity level was definitely much lower than a "normal" week. Haha, it seems that lately a normal week has been a week where things were off, instead of on, as they were last month. Oh well, this is a long process so there will be ups and downs. In Feasterville I basically drank and ate a lot, although I did dance for several hours at the reception and later at the bar, so I can probably count that as some cardio :)

At my last weight watchers meeting we talked about emotional eating. I had a thought during this lesson that attempting to lose weight can easily add stress and increase the emotional eating. I know that the week following a gain it can be hard to move forward. Of course, in someways a gain can be a motivator to get back on track, but on the flip side, it can be very upsetting and depressing. Yes, I have definitely shed a few tears after getting on the scale and seeing a gain. I practically started laughing in the meeting when I was thinking this through, I mean what an awful catch-22! If you are not successful at losing weight one week (which as we all know is def possible b/c weight loss can be incredibly difficult) that only sabotages us from losing further weight as we try to rebound from the blow. This sucks!

I met with Jackie this week. Our last couple sessions have been a little...boring? That might now be the right word, but we (I) have struggled to find things to say for a whole 5o mins. Well, not the case this week! Jackie and I talked through a trigger that we discovered in this session...social situations. Hello, this is definitely not something that is unique to me, or even something that I have not considered before, but I have never sat and thought/talked about it with someone for an hour before, so many new ideas surfaced.

Social situations are not just a trigger for eating too much (for me). Typically in these situations I am at %110 for everything. I talk louder, faster, and more, I laugh louder and more, I get warmer, I eat more, I drink more, I am much more likely to partake in things that I would not normally take on in other situations. And, I usually don't consider the ramifications of things in the same way (particularly eating and drinking). Honostly, I didn't really like discovering these things. I have always enjoyed, perhaps over-enjoyed being in large social situaions, I often think of myself as the life of the party, but why do I have to overdo everything? Why do I have to be the center of attention, and the loudest (lol, unless Summer is there!), and eat the most and drink the most? What's funny, too, is that it's not that anyone else encourages this behavior. It's all me. I need to learn to S L O W D O W N in these situaions and remain in total control of my actions and behaviors. Think before I put the 20th fry in my mouth, reconsider ordering a 3rd beer, not feel the need to be the most gregarious person in the room. Maybe it is a self-defense thing...if I am the most fun person in the room then no one will notice/care that I'm fat.

This week I have been tracking all my points, and I will go to Weight Watchers on Sat before my flight. I have struggling to get back on track with eating the correct # of points, but that's ok. Each day has been better than the one before.

PA so far this week:
M: 50 mins w/ alyssa (cardio and weight training)
T: 50 mins walk/run
W: 50 mins w/ alyssa (cardio and weight training)
Th: 50 mins w/ alyssa (cardio and weight training)

Only 9 days til the 1/2 Marathon!